Tag: 580

I had a day off work, the sun was out, and I was encouraged to leave the house. You know what happened next.

There wasn’t a whole lot of traffic, but what was there was somewhat interesting, and I took photos from a bunch of different spots.

Speaking of spotting spots – I was up on the seawall at the south end of the runway when someone yelled “Restricted area!” from a moving vehicle. I didn’t see them so don’t know if it was AvSec or any other airport authority. I did move on not long afterwards but had AvSec decided to come and have a chat, they would certainly have had time before I left. I know there are “Restricted Area” signs, including one I passed by the windsock, but I’ve been going up there for YEARS as have all manner of people including groups of kids, walkers, dog walkers, mountain bikers, and I’ve even been up there when AvSec staff were around and they said nothing. Heck, I have a photo of an AvSec officer in the area with some other people. What’s the deal there? I note they are making it incredibly difficult to park anywhere nearby now.

Anyway, first up from the handful I’ll include here, I was rather pleased with this angle on Air New Zealand’s second youngest Airbus A320, ZK-OXL, which is now just a little over a year old.

With the recent retirement of (almost) all of the freight Convairs, Air Chathams’ examples become more of a rarity. Here, ZK-CIF departs RWY34 at a fairly sprightly rate of climb for the type. Must have been lightly loaded as there wasn’t a whole lot of wind.

I think this is the first time I’ve seen Sounds Air’s corporate-configured PC-12, ZK-PLZ. It’s certainly the first photo I’ve taken. I was intrigued by the three different types of chocks in use.

And finally, a new airframe for me, I think, is Singapore Airlines’ 777-200ER, 9V-SQK. I was astonished at how quickly it slowed on the runway after touchdown. I believe it is required to take the full length before exiting, but from what I saw it would have had no trouble exiting RWY34 at A4, possibly earlier.

Interestingly, this was the second 777-200ER I had personally sighted on the day. From home, I watched 9V-SVI operating SQ297 pass by at around 16,000ft over Cook Strait on its way to Ohakea, where it was diverted due to fog at Christchurch.

It flew on to Christchurch in the early afternoon, arriving four hours behind schedule.

I published a total of 24 photos from this visit, which you can find over on Flickr.

I took a week off work this week and didn’t have anything planned for my last day, Friday, because the early weather forecast was for a rainy day. Well, who believes weather forecasters, anyway? At least more than 12 hours out.

So with the sun shining, I decided to head out to Wellington Airport to see what would show up, with specific hopes to catch two types I’ve not photographed in action before. I succeeded with one of them.

Here is a taste of the 16 photos published today. You can see them all over on Flickr.

Air Chathams’ Convair 580, ZK-CIF, roars down the runway in an effort to get airborne. Yes, it looks like a real effort every time – not much climb rate with these things!

Having spent so long capturing aircraft from the same spots around Wellington over the years, I’ve lately been trying for different compositions and a current favourite is this ‘over the shoulder’ angle. Here, Mount Cook Airline (Air New Zealand Link) ATR-72, ZK-MVJ, makes a dash for the air.

Over the shoulder again, but this time arriving, Jetstar Airbus A320, VH-VGQ, touches down starboard main gear first – a bit of a theme with today’s conditions.

I love the background and colouring in this shot of the Life Flight Trust’s Jetstream J32, ZK-LFW, as it floats in for a landing. It landed a little longer than usual due to a late touchdown and had to backtrack on the runway to make the western apron.

Finally! I did photo this example on the ground on a recent visit, but this is the first time I’ve captured a Sounds Air Pilatus PC-12, in this case ZK-PLS, in action. My next challenge is to capture one in proper Sounds Air colours – I think there are two now.

Also missing from my portfolio is a Jetstar DHC-8 Q300 – one of which flew over my house right after I got home. Sigh!

Already I have more pics from another visit to Wellington Airport. I used to only include a selection of photos in these blog posts, but I think so long as there are 10 or less I’ll save you the bother of going over to Flickr and include them all here. Of course you can click on any one of them to head to the relevant Flickr page for a bigger version and a browse around, if you want.

First up, on arriving at the airport I missed a Sounds Air PC-12 again. One day I will capture one! I saw it taking off right beside me as I headed in to the Airport Fire Station, where I met Scott. Thanks for the quick tour, Scott! Those trucks are impressive beasts.

After a quick detour I arrived back at the airport and saw the tell-tale smoke trail of the Allison turboprops on this Air Chathams Convair 580, ZK-CIB. I’ve seen this many times before but in line with my recent efforts, I’ve gone for a closeup.

Next up, the Execujet hangar was wide open and sitting outside was the familiar Cessna 650 Citation III, N163JM.

Meanwhile, out on the western apron, there were no air ambulances today, but quite a collection of types as shown here. From the left, RNZAF Boeing 757, NZ7571, Air Chathams Convair 580, ZK-CIE, and two Wellington Aero Club Cessna 172s. One was ZK-CEO (see later) and the other I expect will be ZK-FLT though I did not confirm this.

And shortly afterward, the Aero Club’s Cessna 172, ZK-CEO headed off to the Hutt Valley.

Finally, here are two studies of the RNZAF Boeing 757, NZ7571 departing. I had watched this loading and saw (with the aid of binoculars) that it was carrying a large load of civilians, mostly young adults from what I could see. Apart from crew, I observed only a single person in military dress. I would be interested to find out where a plane load of civvies are off to on a January Saturday.